Lavender fields, stone mas and hilltop villages — Gordes, Ménerbes and the Luberon at its most unhurried.
France rewards the slow traveller. Provence in June, when the lavender at Sénanque runs in violet rows to the abbey wall and Gordes turns gold an hour before dusk. The Côte d'Azur out of season, when the old port of Nice belongs again to the people who live above it. Paris in a quiet arrondissement, shutters open onto zinc rooftops, a café awning below and the tower appearing at the end of the street when you least expect it. And Normandy, where the tide runs out for miles and Mont-Saint-Michel stands alone on the sand. Our houses sit in each of these — a mas behind a cypress hedge, an apartment with parquet and light, a villa above the sea — kept by teams who know the baker, the vigneron and the road that avoids the coast in August.
Where to go in France
Nice, Cap Ferrat and the coast east of Cannes — long lunches, cold rosé and swims before the port wakes.
Haussmann façades, café awnings and the tower at the end of the street — apartments in the quieter arrondissements.
Wide tidal sands, Mont-Saint-Michel and cool green country — oysters, cider and long grey-blue light.
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